How things change...

Time is supposed to show us that while things change, they also stay the same... I've never entirely accepted that credo... I don't believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder, either. My experience is that "out of sight is out of mind". However, with these thoughts in mind, I went to my sister's place - i haven't seen her in over 3 years. We emailed a bit the last few months, but nothing deep... As we age I appreciate how time is changing us physically (not necessarily for the better). but emotionally has healed from the childhood we shared. Intellectually and spiritually we've found the paths we need to follow in this life, and they are very different... but as long as that heart connection can be massaged, we should be able to go graciously into old age with that sisterly bond somewhat intact... we'll never be really close, but we can share some things, and I think we've proven that to each other... Time and circumstance can't change what we went through, but we can do our best to stay bonded...

Speaking of change, our lives and our practice are evolving with each season that passes... Sooner than later what we do will end, and it will be with some bittersweet awareness that like fashion and music, spirituality has cycles of popularity. Ending a practice of nearly 30 years, without the normal passage of retirement is very telling - we are forced back into the private sector just to make ends meet. Spiritual leaders aren't valued anymore, it seems. I shouldn't feel bad about myself when whole institutions like the Anglican church are near bankruptcy. This generation doesn't tithe, nor is there the sense of needing the spiritual body as a community pillar. Churches, as institutions, have caused some of these problems - sexual predation and residential school abuses are well-known examples of the horrors that have brought down peoples' respect for church, as a sacred body to be trusted. Church should end, if it no longer serves the needs of a community. So I revert to a semi-retired minister, working in the larger community doing something else...

Sad, really...